a great havoc among the Highlanders, many of them men of note, who still continue to live in grateful song.

No. 10.

For lighting us safe thro' Drumochter.-P. 203.

A part of the Grampian mountains over which the military road is carried; it is impassable in severe winters, and one travels through twenty miles of ensire solitude, interrupted only by an inn built amid the waste, at the public expence.

ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

HENRY DUNDAS,

WITH A POEM ON THE DEATH OF

SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY.

Now when the thunder of dread War is o'er,
And Peace her olive plants on BRITAIN'S shore,
Descending from the toilsome steep of power,
In tranquil shades to share the social hour,
Wilt thou, DUNDAS, this tribute sad receive,
(No fairer tribute has the Muse to give),
The plausive lay-the mournful cypress wreath,
The hard-won meed of Valour's glorious death:
Tho' with thy country's sorrows doom'd to blend
The heart-drawn sigh that mourns the long-lov'd friend;
Tho' painful memory sorrowing marks the day

sketch'd his way,

Bid him to Afric stem the hostile flood,
And plant those laurels,-water'd with his blood:
Yet when you see the cloudless glory blaze
That shed its lustre on his closing days,

And hear th' applauding world that fame resound
With which thy counsels and his acts are crown'd,
In public joy thy private sorrows drown,

And taste unmix'd the sweets of fair renown: And when you see your country's troubles cease, And Commerce flourish in the shades of Peace, The will Divine with sacred awe revere,

Nor think such blessings can be bought too dear!

ON THE

DEATH

OF

SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY,

KNIGHT OF THE BATH.

BLEST was the Chief, who full of days and fame,
No longer rul'd o'er War's vindictive flame,
But pleas'd to see the mad contention cease,
Hung up his trophies in the hall of Peace,-
His shining arms, no longer stain'd with gore,
And heard the clarion's deadly blast no more;
Saw his kind sovereign, with approving eye
Bestow the hard-earn'd meed of victory;
Heard his glad country's universal voice,
Applausive, justify their Sovereign's choice;

And felt soft melting in his generous breast
The parent and the husband all confest ;
While the fond mother of his duteous race,
With faded beauty, but with heighten'd grace,
Serenely smiling, saw in manhood's pride
Her sons attending at their father's side:
Or when with blushing awe his daughters came,
With mingled fear, rejoicing in his fame,
Benignant pleasure smooth'd his placid brow,—
So guardian angels view their charge below.
Good ABERCROMBY thus in peace respir'd,
Till Gaul, with ceaseless thirst of conquest fir'd,
Wide havock spread o'er all the neighbouring lands,
And pour'd her troops on Afric's torrid sands:
Low on the shore see Egypt's Genius weep,
While Gallia's flag usurping rides the deep;
Father of waters, Nilus, sinks dismay'd,

While crowding barks his sevenfold mouth invade :
Back to the desert fly the Arab race,

And POMPEY's pillar trembles to its base:
His injur'd spirit joys to see once more
Stern vengeance threat th' inhospitable shore.
The haughty Turk beholds, with dread surprise,
War's pomp appearing in unwonted guise;
Hears with chill awe the long responsive groan,

When thundering cannons mow whole squadrons down;